Peggy Noonan: “…nobody loves Obama”

In the three years since Peggy Noonan declared her support for then candidate Barack Obama, she has in some form or another been walking back that support. It’s been a very sad and lonely walk for her.

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal opinion piece signaled she may have reached the end of her walk and is now in the place where conservatives who saw Obama for what he really was from the very beginning have always been. I came to this conclusion when I read her last few lines of her piece:

And so his failures in the debt ceiling fight. He wasn’t serious, he was only shrewd—and shrewdness wasn’t enough. He demagogued the issue—no Social Security checks—until he was called out, and then went on the hustings spouting inanities. He left conservatives scratching their heads: They could have made a better, more moving case for the liberal ideal as translated into the modern moment, than he did. He never offered a plan. In a crisis he was merely sly. And no one likes sly, no one respects it.

So he is losing a battle in which he had superior forces—the presidency, the U.S. Senate. In the process he revealed that his foes have given him too much mystique. He is not a devil, an alien, a socialist. He is a loser. And this is America, where nobody loves a loser.

Americans don’t like losers. She’s absolutely right, and Americans are realizing Obama is a loser in that he does not have any idea how to be president. But let’s not forget why Obama was so appealing in the beginning. The American people don’t like winners, either, if they win too much. Liberalism has pervaded American culture to the point that the majority of Americans seem to expect a certain kind of controlled fairness. They want Americans to be allowed to win, but not too much, even if their constant winning has been legitimate. And if those Americans who do a lot of winning don’t show humility and even some shame in all the winning, they will find themselves on the receiving end of the American people’s ire. This is why Barack Obama has had some success convincing the American people that we need to tax the rich more. They’ve won a little too much and aren’t apologetic enough.

But let’s get back to Peggy’s article. She wrote something else that makes me think she’s finally uncovered the real Obama:

But that actually is not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about something that started to become apparent to me during the debt negotiations. It’s something I’ve never seen in national politics.

It is that nobody loves Obama. This is amazing because every president has people who love him, who feel deep personal affection or connection, who have a stubborn, even beautiful refusal to let what they know are just criticisms affect their feelings of regard. At the height of Bill Clinton’s troubles there were always people who’d say, “Look, I love the guy.” They’d often be smiling—a wry smile, a shrugging smile. Nobody smiles when they talk about Mr. Obama. There were people who loved George W. Bush when he was at his most unpopular, and they meant it and would say it. But people aren’t that way about Mr. Obama. He has supporters and bundlers and contributors, he has voters, he may win. But his support is grim support. And surely this has implications.

In 2008, when throngs of Americans came to see Barack Obama speak, it wasn’t because they loved him. It was because they loved the image he presented to them. The Barack Obama they cheered and fainted over wasn’t a real man with real and tangible accomplishments that he and others could point to. He didn’t have any. Candidate Barack Obama was a figment, a marketing ploy, a charlatan. More Americans coming around to realizing this. Peggy seems to have now finally realized this. What have they finally realized? Barack Obama’s presidential campaign was the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on the American people.

A guy that I follow on Google+ published an aphorism that liberals have plastered on their cars in response to budget cuts to education: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” Right, just throwing taxpayers’ money at public education will impart wisdom of the ages into our kids’ heads. But that’s neither here nor there. My point is that this aphorism is particularly applicable to Obama’s election in 2008 and our current debt crisis. It was the American people’s ignorance (Even Peggy Noonan’s), i.e. their inability to discern a real man with real accomplishments from a man without any real accomplishments but who was expertly spun and marketed by the media, that got us into the situation we now find ourselves: staring into the abyss of economic ruin.

But even those two passages that Peggy wrote, as true as they are, don’t embody more truth than what she wrote here (emphasis mine):

Mr. Obama seemed brilliant at politics when he first emerged in 2004. He understood the nation’s longing for unity. We’re not divided into red states and blue, he said, we’re Big Purple, we can solve our problems together. Four years later he read the lay of the land perfectly—really, perfectly. The nation and the Democratic Party were tired of the Clinton machine. He came from nowhere and dismantled it. It was breathtaking. He went into the 2008 general election with a miraculously unified party and took down another machine, bundling up all the accrued resentment of eight years with one message: “You know the two losing wars and the economic collapse we’ve been dealing with? I won’t do that. I’m not Bush.”

The fact is, he’s good at dismantling. He’s good at critiquing. He’s good at not being the last guy, the one you didn’t like. But he’s not good at building, creating, calling into being. He was good at summoning hope, but he’s not good at directing it and turning it into something concrete that answers a broad public desire.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a greater truth about Obama than that one bolded line: “he’s good at dismantling.” Of course he’s good at dismantling. He is a community organizer, more accurately a community agitator. He takes a good look at the lay of the land and determines what is “unfair” and then goes in and destroys it. Once he’s done, he moves on to the next project, leaving behind nothing but a pile of rubble and destruction for someone else to clean up. He’s never built anything, whether a lemonade stand, a multi-million dollar business, or a successful plan that encourages job growth. When the only tool you bothered to learned how to use is wrecking ball, everything in your sights looks like a target for destruction.

This is where were are. Obama the wrecking ball has knocked down the economy, our health care system, and our place in the world. Now he’s knocked down every single debt crisis plan the Republicans have come up with, yet has refused to commit a plan of his own to paper. I’m not surprised. What surprises me is that there are still people out there who are just now figuring this out.

>>>”Americans don’t like losers. She’s absolutely right, and Americans are realizing Obama is a loser in that he does not have any idea how to be president.

Another clueless Wizbang writer who doesn’t undertand current events. Back ot the forest, with you where you can huddle with the other Tea Party Hobbits!

Liberals and progressives are disenchanted with Obama because he’s failing to deliver the promise he made to us – those who voted for him.

His willingness to compromise and give in is now legendary.

Some of us, those who supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries for example, saw Obama for what he is — a relatively inexperienced moderate whose management style is to reach for the consensus — the middle ground. He starts negotiations by giving in and then waiting… and
becoming frustrated and angry — when the other side fails to negotiate and “give in” in return.

I’m sure in Obama’s mind he’s waiting for the other side to be as generous and willing to negotiate and “meet in the middle” as he is

And us Clinton supporters saw that in Obama, and knew he was not going to deliver on his promise to change Washington. Sitting at the negotiating table and giving into the opposition with the hope they’ll meet you halfway is naive. You’ve got to kick some butt, as Bill Clinton
did, to get the job done.

If you look at Obama’s recent drop in the polls it the Democrats who are turning against him — not because they’e become Tea Party Hobbits who want to kill our nation by dismantling the government — but because Obama has failed proven to be what many of us knew he’s be all along — a moderate consensus builder in Progressive liberal clothing.

The fact that he’s still fooling you Hobbits into believing he’s liberal and progressive doesn’t show that he’s liberal – just that Hobbits aren’t very smart and continue to make bad choices and have poor deductive reasoning — that plus the racist attitude that makes some of
you hate Obama even when he’s giving in to your side of the argument.

Extending the Bush tax cuts is a prime example of this, but there are many, many other examples as well.

Anonymous

“Back to the forest, with you where you can huddle with the other Tea
Party Hobbits!”

That ALL you’ve got Frank?

Hey! Why don’t you tout those “revised” economic numbers that have come out in the past two days. Rub it in on how well your Obamassiah’s policies are working to improve the country.

Anonymous

Yup. We just have to wait a bit to realize all the gazillions of free dollars we’ll get when Obamacare brings its massive promised savings to the nation…groan!

“but because Obama has failed proven to be what many of us knew he’s be all along — a moderate consensus builder in Progressive liberal clothing.”

So your emperor has no clothes, no charisma, no clues and no chance of reselection.. Just why the hell do you have your head wedged up his ass?

Anonymous

>>
Some of us, those who supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries for
example, saw Obama for what he is — a relatively inexperienced moderate
whose management style is to reach for the consensus — the middle
ground. He starts negotiations by giving in and then waiting… and
becoming frustrated and angry — when the other side fails to negotiate and “give in” in return.
>>

Wow, you saw all of that and still voted for him. Nice work.

Anonymous

>>
Some of us, those who supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries for
example, saw Obama for what he is — a relatively inexperienced moderate
whose management style is to reach for the consensus — the middle
ground. He starts negotiations by giving in and then waiting… and
becoming frustrated and angry — when the other side fails to negotiate and “give in” in return.
>>

Wow, you saw all of that and still voted for him. Nice work.

Oysteria

“I’m sure in Obama’s mind he’s waiting for the other side to be as generous and willing to negotiate and “meet in the middle” as he is.”

I hope that’s a joke. Tell me it’s a joke. Obama’s “meet in the middle” is: Give me a raise to the debt ceiling and higher taxes for those “rich” people and I’ll give a some inconsequential “cuts” over the next ten years.

In other words, give me two really big things that go into effect right away and I’ll pretend to give you something some time in the future.

Frank, the reason that people are leaving Obama is because no one really knows what or who the hell he is. His entire life has been built on a lie. It started with the first book he “wrote”; moved into campaign after campaign, and the American people are finally starting to see him for what he is: a habitual liar. He is no moderate consensus builder. He is the worst kind of progressive: a spineless one. Heck, if he had a spine, and really believed the tripe that he spews, I might not like his policies, but I would respect him. As of now, I neither like his policies or respect him. He is just sad and pathetic.

Anonymous

I could never respect such a man who loathes America -it’s constitution, and seeks to destroy God’s creatures through radical abortion-regardless of the innocent person’s color.

Wait until he gets in in 2012 and has no downside politically – true evil will be the order of the day, We are following Nazi Germany into national suicide.

Anonymous

Here’s a clue, Noo-Noo.
To paraphrase the indefatigable coach Dennis Green, ” HE IS WHO WE THOUGHT HE WAS !!!! “

Anonymous

Nobody loves Obama like Obama does, so yes that pretty much amounts to nothing.

Apparently Frank and the others who have not read the Lord Of The Rings trilogy haven’t a clue about the role of the Hobbits. They were the true heroes of the story. As the TEA party people in real life are. They will keep plodding until the Ring is dumped into the lava of Mt Doom. The Ring, in this case, is the huge government that has been foisted upon us by 110 years of so-called Progressivism, when in all actuality, is nothing more than a theory by an obscure malcontent, who wrote a cheesy book.

jim_m

Yes we have been trying to explain to Frank that he is making a very unflattering analogy for himself.

I think the problem comes in that the Hobbits are rustic people who lead a quiet life and the left and the DC elite see that as a symbol of ignorance. The left does not value what they cannot understand so they choose to denigrate their opponents by calling them Hobbits, which for the left is code for stupid and ignorant because that’s how they view people from other walks of life from their own.

So Frank unwittingly embraces an analogy that paints himself and his side as fascists, desiring the destruction of everything good and in opposition to those who would save what is left of their way of life.

And as is stated several times throughout The Lord of the Rings: there is more than meets the eye to these Hobbits. And as Elrond said:

This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or if they are wise, why should they expect to know it until the hour has struck?

It’s a rather flattering analogy for the TEA Party. Too bad Frank is far too ignorant and unread to understand the fool that he makes of himself.

Peggy is the masochistic woman who, only seeing flashes of the sadist in her new man, marries him anyway, despite those around her warning her of the consequences. Then after years of his abuse, she wonders why her family and friends are long gone, they, tiring of the relentless cancer she brought into their lives and of her incessant whining. Peggy is now just an object of pity, and conversations about her always end in “bless her heart”.

Anonymous

What is amazing is that this same lady who penned a solid book on Pope John Paul II, could have a mental romance with the biggest pro-baby killing president of all times. Couldn’t she recognize evil when she saw it?

Personally, I am most disappointed in the punditry women in DC. I had such high hopes for solid conservative fighting from Coulter, Igraham, and Noonan, and Parker, while they wimpified and protected their Washington punditry turf instead of doing what they ought. The men did no better -protecting their role as GOP gate-keepers dissing Palin-loving Romney.

I’m still foolish enough to put faith in the one person that has been right all along in this deadly game -Sarah Palin -once again she called the shots correctly, like a true leader should.

Anonymous

Progressivism as the left practices = Repackaged Socialism..

Barry’s trollish hoards ( see frank ) are as clueless as they come. I really think he is Wart? Gnomish leader of Barry’s affirmative action division.

The entire left are nothing but dismantlers. An army of Derridas. As far as Obama-love is concerned, it is but a shallow interest in what Obama was supposed to deliver. He promised the moon but has delivered moonure.

The infamous “Obama money” exchange is exemplary of leftist affection:

Frank is just joining Obama in the destroying. He is trying to paint the Hobbits,whom everyone loves as the greatest good, as loathsome and stupid.
Way to go Frank. Way to be a part of the dividers and haters your side truly is.

Anonymous

Frank is just joining Obama in the destroying. He is trying to paint the Hobbits,whom everyone loves as the greatest good, as loathsome and stupid.
Way to go Frank. Way to be a part of the dividers and haters your side truly is.

Anonymous

Frank is just joining Obama in the destroying. He is trying to paint the Hobbits,whom everyone loves as the greatest good, as loathsome and stupid.
Way to go Frank. Way to be a part of the dividers and haters your side truly is.

Anonymous

Frank will be right back after he memorizes some more DNC talking points.

Oysteria

Amazing how someone who wrote speeches for Reagan can end up so *yawn*. I always saw Noonan as a very smart woman, until Obama came along and she went all ga-ga. I thought, My God, how could someone so smart buy into that crap? At that point I had little use for her and then it got worse when she wrote that article about Palin and sounded like a petty high-school girl. Legitimate criticisms are one thing, but when it’s dished out with thinly veiled ad hominem I lose interest in the writer.

Now *she* wants to tell *us* what’s wrong with Obama? She didn’t listen to us then, why should we care now?

And only Frank would consider Obama to be a “moderate”. Obama is an opportunist. I guess to Frank that looks like a moderate.

the truth is even if Obama were to issue an executive desion today which privatises social Security, eliminates madicare, bans gay mariage & abotion at the federal level, eliminates all federal income tax desolves the department of education, and cheges his party affiliation to the GOP, the tea party wing of the republican party will never accept him. The fact is he has all of these things to a certain extent and the intensity of the hatred only increases. I am sure deep down he knows it too but yet he still keep on trying to please these people who will never accept him …. ever as long as he is black….I mean these people have always been around but have never materialised in the past untill the country dared to elect a black person, then the came out and said lets make the country pay … shut it down, starve the government and not fund it….cut the government… now let it default….pass no jobs bills….no investment on rebuilding the country….let china & india overtake us mo problem…the country must pay for what it has done…..and so it goes on and on untill the next white GOP member is elected and they will all relax and start to rebuild again … the sad thing is it may be too late …

How can Pegy Noonan credbly claim the NOBODY LIKES OBAMA when at a time of 9.2% unemployment he still has a 49% approbal with the american people??? No president in modern history has ever had this kind of support when the country is in as bad a shape as we are today….

http://larouchepac.com/node/18977 The Super Congress is Obama’s latest unconstitutional effort to work with Wall Street and the corrupt credit rating agencies of London to collapse the U.S. economy. This is a foreign-led British coup against the U.S. Constitution and our sovereign nation. It is unnecessary to sell government bonds to raise capital, when there is a clear directive of the Federal Constitution to have an economic policy based on a credit system. The U.S. government needs a credit system to directly fund the real physical economy in the areas of agriculture, industry, transportation, and scientific research.

Nobody loves Obama? Ha ha ha ha, that’s such a LIE, it’s really funny. LOADS of people love him. Obama was the ONLY alternative for president in 2008 and you know it.
” but who was expertly spun and marketed by the media, that got us into
the situation we now find ourselves: staring into the abyss of economic
ruin.”
Also very funny: we are NOW much better off than in 2008 when we had to bail out banks (Obama had nothing to do with the cause of that) and when the car industry was on the brink of collapse.)
We are staring into the abyss now, and not in 2008? Let me use the words of my fave congressman: “YOU LIE!”